Graham urges killing of American-born al Qaeda spokesman

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that the United States should strike an American-born al Qaeda spokesman “without hesitation” after
the militant urged attacks against U.S. ambassadors across the globe.

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In a series of tweets Monday, Graham said that the United
States should either use lethal force or capture U.S.-born al Qaeda member Adam
Gadahn as an enemy combatant.

“The use of lethal force against American-citizen al-Qaeda
leader Adam Gadahn is appropriate and should be utilized without hesitation,”
Graham tweeted.

“Adam Gadahn is an American citizen who has aligned himself
with Al-Qaeda. He should be considered an enemy combatant, not a common
criminal,” he said. “Even though Adam Gadahn is an American citizen, he should
BE subject to being killed or captured by our military and intelligence
forces.”

Graham’s remarks weighed in on a long-running debate over whether
the U.S. should use drone strikes to target American members of al Qaeda.

In May, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that the U.S.
has killed four American citizens in drone attacks, including Anwar al-Awlaki,
an American-born Muslim cleric and his 16-year-old son.

Graham, who later put his tweets into a press statement, was
responding to a new video from Gadahn posted this weekend on Islamist militant
websites, according to Reuters.
In the video, Gadahn called for attacks against U.S. ambassadors, specifically
the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein.

"These prizes have a great effect in instilling fear in
the hearts of our cowardly enemies," Gadahn said in the video, according
to SITE, a jihadist-monitoring group.

The FBI has long sought to arrest Gadhan, and the U.S.
government has offered $1 million for assistance in capturing him.

If he is captured, Graham called for Gadahn to be held as an
enemy combatant by the military, and not federal authorities.

“If captured, Gadahn should NOT be read his Miranda rights
but held as an enemy combatant under the Law of War for intelligence
gathering,” Graham tweeted.

Graham and other hawkish Republicans have pushed to require
terror suspects to be detained by the military as enemy combatants. Democrats
argue that the federal court system is fully capable of handling terrorism
cases.